Numbers // weekman/weekeman

-Part 10-

-Dallon POV-

Feelings are interesting, are they not? Sometimes you think you have felt everything there is to feel and sometimes you are numb. Then there are the very rare instances in which you discover a new feeling, one that is quite different and quite peculiar. That's how most things are, right?

I think I'm going through one of those peculiar instances.

"It's almost Christmas," Ryan says from behind the counter of the coffee shop. I lean forward on my elbows and nod slowly. He's doodling on a little notebook. They're strange drawings. Hands connected to arms that cut off in the middle of the page. Some of them have eyes in the palm and dotted along fingers.

"Hey, uh, do you, like, mind if I ask you something?" I break the silence.

Ryan stops in the middle of drawing a jagged line horizontally across the arm in the drawing. My brain starts to put some pieces together and concern floods into my thoughts. I'll ask him about it later. "Yeah, I don't mind," he answers me.

"Would you wanna maybe, like, come over to my place later and watch a movie or something? Like a Christmas movie? Gotta, y'know, get in the spirit, right?" I notice my fingers had started tapping on the counter quickly.

Ryan's eyes widen and he looks down. A little grin twitches the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, actually, that'd be pretty cool." He clears his throat. "Want anything to drink?"

"Hot chocolate." I smile at him. He smiles back and gets to work. I notice that before he puts the lid on the cup, he drops a small candy cane into the drink and sprinkles the top with crushed peppermint. I hold out the money when Ryan slides the drink towards me but he shakes his head.

"On the house." He winks.

The bell rings as someone steps into the shop. Ryan jumps and turns to the door but smiles at the two who walk in. One of them is dressed in a baggy sweater and jet black jeans and he smiles a warm smile at Ryan. A flash of excitement darts across his face when he sees me and I find myself puzzled. The other one of them wears a black hoodie, black sweatpants, and possibly one of the dirtiest pairs of black Converse I have ever seen. His hair is the shade of Mountain Dew and his face and hands are covered in various vibrant colors of what I assume is paint.

Baggy-sweater-guy walks behind the counter and beside Ryan.

"This is Geoff," Ryan tells me and he smiles at Geoff and whispers something in his ear that must be exceptionally funny because Geoff laughs loudly.

"The obnoxious one over there is Awsten." Geoff motions towards the person who came in with him, who now stands close to me.

"Dallon," I say, nodding at Geoff and Awsten with a smile.

I look at my phone and check the time. The amount of new people makes me uncomfortable. Sort of pathetic, I know. But I have excuses to get out of this situation.

"I better get to work. People are sometimes out at this time," I lie and start to back away. A frown flashes across Ryan's face but he nods quickly. I smile and exit the shop, my pace quickening in an attempt to get to my corner faster.

I discover that I have found a new passion for playing "Hallelujah" after playing it for Ryan.

- - -

My house is probably the most scattered and cluttered mess since the beginning of time. Honestly? I couldn't bother cleaning it up. I know Ryan is supposed to arrive later, but I just can't find the motivation to make the place look presentable. He won't care. At least, I hope he won't.

After I put some popcorn into the microwave in preparation, I start pacing. The microwave beeps at me furiously and I violently poke the button the stop it. I open the door and tear open the bag and poor it into a glass bowl.

"Damn it, I know I have a tray or something somewhere in this hoarder house," I mumble to myself. My house couldn't really be described as a "hoarder" house since it's not nonsensical and random objects contained in the mess. It's mostly drawings, art supplies, various books, and even some records or CDs. There's a theme there, right? Maybe I'm just in denial and I really am a hoarder.

The doorbell strikes me out of my thoughts as lightning would strike metal.

"Oh god, here goes nothing." I open the door. Bright blue hair and an enthusiastic smile greet me. "I apologize in advance for the mess," I blurt out before moving to the side to let Ryan in. I notice he's dressed in what appears to be plaid pajama pants and his signature baggy black hoodie.

"I don't care," he laughs. I find myself release held breath. "Can I, uh, put my shoes somewhere?"

"Anywhere you feel like. You can sit anywhere you like," I tell him. He sits down on my couch and takes off his black and white checkered Vans, leaving them beside the couch. He has black fuzzy socks patterned with light blue snowflakes on. He notices me looking at him and he smiles at me. He even blushes a little bit. I turn and walk into my kitchen, bringing back my newly found tray adorned with two glasses of water and the bowl of popcorn. Before I sit down, I place the tray on the coffee table and retrieve the TV remote.

Ryan scoots a little closer to me and rests his head on my shoulder while I flick through movies on Netflix. He coughs what is blatantly a fake cough and I stop scrolling.

"So, we're, uh, dating, right?" He brings his legs up to his chest and hides his face.

I twist my body a little bit and find his face with my hand to lift it up to look at mine. He doesn't look into my eyes.

"I think so," I tell him. "Unless you don't want to..."

Ryan's eyes snap up to look into mine with a pleading so intense that worry starts to fill me. "No, I want to. I want to really bad," he confesses. Something under the alluring silky smooth voice of his tells me that he feels something a lot more intense than just a crush on me.

Hell, it might be love.

Love at first sight.

"Well, then, I guess we are dating," I confirm to him and I bring him closer to me, hugging him to my chest in such a way that I think I might be in love.